Murdoch predicts Democrats landslide

News Corp Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch on Wednesday predicted a Democratic landslide in the U.S. presidential election against a gloomy economic backdrop over the next 18 months.

Murdoch has yet to endorse a U.S. presidential candidate but considers Barack Obama very promising, the media magnate said in an interview by two Wall Street Journal reporters at an annual conference for high-tech industry insiders.

News Corp recently acquired ownership of the Journal and its parent company Dow Jones & Co.

“You have got the Obama phenomenon. You have got, undoubtedly, a recession ... The average American is really getting hurt financially and that all bodes well for him (Obama),” Murdoch said.

“You have probably the making of a complete phenomenon in this country” Murdoch said in describing what he predicted will be a sweeping victory for Democrats in November.

The recent special election for a U.S. Congressional seat held by Republicans in Mississippi showed how powerless that party may be in the face of a rising political tide, Murdoch said. Democrat Travis Childers won the seat this month.

In the 2008 U.S. Presidential race, Murdoch said he is not yet backing anyone, but then quickly added: “I want to meet Obama. I want to know if he going to walk the walk.”

Murdoch said he had played a role in the endorsement by the New York Post, one of his global stable of papers, in endorsing Obama during the Democratic primary with Hillary Clinton in New York.